Brooklyn Book Bodega, a nonprofit focused on increasing access to books for children in New York City, was awarded the 2025 Spark Prize from Brooklyn Org. The $100,000 award will enable them to further their mission of eliminating "book deserts" and creating over 100 "book homes" in underserved neighborhoods. Since 2018, the organization has distributed over 500,000 books to children. Founders Rebecca Cohen and Seema Aghera emphasize the importance of community collaboration in promoting literacy and fostering a love for reading among families and children, particularly those in grades 3-8.
It validates our work in the city and in Brooklyn, and says that literacy is an issue of all of us and if we can work on it together in community, we can do better.
We believe that the Spark Prize will also help us continue our work and leave books in all the places and spaces where kids and families are spending time.
Kids who have read, kids who have access to books, on average, attain three more years of education and with that, their financial attainment- they earn more.
Involving families helped make literacy a shared responsibility, deepening the engagement of children with reading.
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